India tops list of pre-term births globally by a mile

Washington, May 3 (ANI): India is leading other countries in the world with the highest number of deaths due to preterm births by a difference of millions, according to a new report.

Preterm birth is defined as babies born alive before 37 weeks of pregnancy are completed.

The first-ever national, regional, and global estimates of preterm birth reveals that 15 million babies are born too soon every year and 1.1 million of those babies die shortly after birth, making premature birth the second-leading cause of death in children under age 5.

Born Too Soon: The Global Action Report on Preterm Birth, highlight the need for more research into the causes of preterm birth and how to prevent it.

According to the report, more than one in every 10 babies is born prematurely and preterm birth rates are increasing in almost all countries with reliable data.

Born Too Soon is a joint effort of almost 50 organizations, including the Global Alliance to Prevent Prematurity and Stillbirth (GAPPS), an initiative of Seattle Children's.

"Even if every known intervention was implemented around the world, we would still see 13.8 million preterm births each year; we could only prevent 8 percent," said Craig Rubens, MD, PhD, executive director of GAPPS and contributor to the report.

"This report sounds the alarm that prematurity is an enormous global health problem that urgently demands more research and resources," he added.

New figures in the report showed both the magnitude of the problem and the disparities between countries.

Of the 11 countries with preterm birth rates over 15 percent, all but two are in sub-Saharan Africa. Preterm births account for 11.1 percent of the world's live births, 60 percent of them in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

In the poorest countries, on average, 12 percent of babies are born too soon, compared to 9 percent in higher-income countries.

However, the problem of preterm births is not confined to low-income countries. The United States and Brazil both rank among the top 10 countries with the highest number of preterm births.

In the United States, about 12 percent, or more than one in nine births, are preterm.

"Treating premature infants is like trying to stop a snowball once it's 99 percent of the way down the mountain and has become an avalanche," Rubens said.

"The emphasis needs to be on prevention strategies that work everywhere, especially in low-resource, high-burden settings," he noted.

List of top 10 countries with the greatest numbers of preterm births include: